Thursday, July 17, 2014

Vanilla Cake

This is a basic vanilla cake recipe that is perfect for layered cakes of all kinds (a slight variation of my chocolate cake recipe). I like the mix of cake flour and all purpose flour--it makes the cake durable but still moist and tender. You can change the ratio to your liking. The flour measurements are in grams because I have found that weighing flour is the best way to get consistent results every time. I find that this cake bakes evenly and so no trimming is required to make a layered cake. If you missed my live posting on Facebook of the birthday cake I made for Son #3 yesterday, I have included pictures of it here. It is the vanilla cake recipe posted here (obviously) with what can only be described as an obscene amount of frosting. We rode the sugar high for hours! The fondant recipe I used really did not work well (despite the look of the final product). I will try to develop one for future cakes. INGREDIENTS- 150g cake flour- 150g all purpose flour- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda- 3/4 tsp baking powder- 1/2 tsp salt- 1 1/4 cup plan soy milk- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar- 1/4 cup water- 1 1/4 cup sugar- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp canola oil- 2 tsp vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp almond extract

METHODPreheat oven to 350 degrees, or 325 convection1. Grease two 8 inch round cake pans. Cut out two circles of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the pans. Put the parchment papers in the bottom of the pans and grease it. Flour both pans. 2. Sift flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk soy milk and vinegar together. Add remaining ingredients and whisk well to blend. 3. Add dry ingredients and gently whisk until blended and mostly smooth.4. Divide batter evenly between the two pans.5. Bake for 22-24 mins (convection), or 26-28 mins (non-convection), or until a toothpick comes out clean and cakes are golden.6. Cool on wire racks for 10 mins, loosen cake from edges of the pan, then flip the pans over the remove the cake. Remove the parchment paper. Cover the cakes with a damp towel and let them fully cool.